CWG 2010 Scam : BJP president Nitin Gadkari drags PM into corruption

BJP president Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday launched a frontal attack on the Congress leadership. He asserted that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cannot escape responsibility for the scandals in the CWG as no inflated cost estimate or overlays could have been sanctioned without the PMO’s approval.

The BJP chief demanded that a joint parliamentary committee be constituted to include the PMO in the ambit of the CWG probe. Gadkari was emphatic that by singling out Suresh Kalmadi, the Congress brass, especially the executive head, the PM, will not remain untouched by the Games scandal.

His logic for targeting the PM was simple — the astounding jump in the overall cost estimates for conducting the Games from Rs.399 crore in 2003 to Rs.80,000 in 2010 was approved by the cabinet headed by the PM.

“How could this be approved without the PM questioning the escalated cost? When probe agencies are asking questions now, how is it that no one enquired about the escalated costs before they were approved?” Gadkari asked.

He cited an instance of “absolutely no command and control from the top”. This March, the cabinet approved a proposal from the sports ministry for providing a budget of Rs.687.06 crore for overlays (furnishings) for the Games.

Within just five months, this cost was increased to Rs.767 crore and then finally to Rs.1,620 crore. “How did the PM allow this without asking questions? Every escalation, every project has the PMO’s stamp,” Gadkari said.

“The estimated cost of each CWG project was exaggerated and every clearance had the PMO’s stamp. Several benami transactions took place in the CWG through the Mauritius route. Tax havens were used to hide the identity of the culprits. Can the PM say all this was going on for years and he was ignorant?” Gadkari asked.

Stung by the attack on the PM, the Congress asserted that Gadkari was trying to divert attention from his own partymen involved in the graft.

“Gadkari has excelled this time in making irresponsible statements. The main objective of the press conference was to divert attention from the BJP leaders involved. Perhaps he (Gadkari) feels the investigation may reach him,” Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said.

Tewari called the BJP chief a “spoilt brat” who was prepared to go to any extent to attract attention to himself.

“He did not seem overly worried about the government agencies focusing on BJP officebearers who have been accused of involvement in what he described as ‘CWG loot’,” Tewari said. WHEN asked about the IT raids on BJP leader Sudhanshu Mittal’s house and the inaction by senior leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra, who was also a member of the CWG Organising Committee, Gadkari said: “Let them (government agencies) take action. The BJP will not protect anyone.”

On Mittal specifically, Gadkari was dismissive: “Which Mittal? Whom are you talking about?” Gadkari’s report on the Congress did not unearth any new facts but collated earlier reports by agencies about the cost-overlays in the projects, mismanagement etc. But he promised more in the days to come. “We have a wealth of information. The government will not escape. We will raise the issue in Parliament, on the streets. The loot of the common man will not go unpunished,” he threatened.